The glaring lack of many works by The Man on Spotify sent me back to iTunes recently, in the hope of adding to my existing “best of”, assembled a good 10 years ago.
Unfortunately, he’s pretty unrepresented on there as well these days, so I’ve spent the last week listening to the further reaches of his back catalogue and ripping the odd find to iTunes.
So, now my best of is a good 50 songs long, covering as many of the veteran R&B grump’s Caledonian soul stompers, Celtic reveries and metaphysical musings as I could find.
But it’s too late to stop now. I fear there must be some deep cuts that I’ve missed. Or perhaps you could help me rearrange the running order so that the GLW doesn’t insist that I turn it off whenever we get into the more “difficult” likes of Rave On, John Donne. Maybe some of his recent records are under-represented (The Healing Game seems quite good).
So, here’s my work in progress. What more needs to be done? (I’m assuming it won’t be improved by any of the forthcoming duets with Hucknall and the like). Strangely, the Guardian’s music site hasn’t covered this topic. Stereogum has rated his albums (and rather weirdly at that), and the Telegraph his 25 best tracks.
But never mind Stereogum and the Telegraph. What comprises the Massive’s best of Van?
Brown Eyed Girl
Domino
Bright Side Of the Road
Full Force Gale
Moondance
Glad Tidings
Gypsy
Wild Night
Heavy Connection
Flamingos Fly
And The Healing Has Begun
And It Stoned Me
(Straight To Your Heart) Like A Cannonball
Sweet Thing
The Way Young Lovers
Into the Mystic
Bulbs
Raglan Road
Why Must I Always Explain?
Streets Of Arklow
You Don’t Pull No Punches
The Mystery
Orangefield
Have I Told You Lately
A Town Called Paradise
Summertime in England
Redwood Tree
Snow in San Anselmo
Haunts of Ancient Peace
Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart II
In The Garden
Dweller On the Threshold
Rave On John Donne
Coney Island
In The Days Before Rock’n’Roll
Wavelength
Call Me Up In Dreamland
Real Real Gone
Jackie Wilson Said
Precious Time
Days Like This
Ivory Tower
Caravan
The Great Deception
Madame George
The Street Only Knew Your Name
Street Choir
Hard Nose the Highway
Tupelo Honey
Saint Dominic’s Preview
Enlightenment
Gotta have “Kingdom Hall”.
Then there’s “Natalia” and “Take It Where You Find It”, and that’s just the Wavelength tracks.
If I were you I’d just buy the whole damn catalogue and be done with it.
What no Astral weeks? Also love Cul de Sac and Listen to the Lion, and Take me back off of Hymns to the silence. But seriously what is Van up to? You can’t seem to buy anything of his other than Astral Weeks and Moondance, at least not in new editions. They’re all expensive old CD editions or second hand, and pretty much nothing on download either. Does he not need the money or what? I really wanted to get Hymns and ended up borrowing it off a friend and ripping it. I had the money ready Van, why do you not put these records out any more!
You need to include Tupelo Honey surely
and also Wonderful Remark (also check out the longer folkier (think Astral Weeks) version on Philosophers Stone
You are totally right about Tupelo Honey. For me it was a very obvious omission.
Yes, the ‘original’ Wonderful Remark is much better imho.
Ballerina
On Hyndford Street
Listen To The Lion
Celtic Swing
A Sense Of Wonder
Queen Of The Slipstream
Celtic New Year
Carrying A Torch
Irish Heartbeat (Chieftains version)
Crazy Love
…I may be back.
You must have On Hyndford Street on the playlist. Also Queen of the Slipstream. I know there are people on here who dismiss his later stuff entirely – they are wring – Magic Time and Back on Top for example are both great albums . Try Just like Greta from the first of these two.
Black Type, you beat me to it with Hyndford St and Slipstream – I nearly suggested Carrying a Torch too. Forget Astral Weeks Hymns to the Silence is my favourite Van album.
Tupelo Honey’s there – just before St Dom’s. But thanks for these other suggestions. I’m not over keen on Wonderful Remark but intrigued that there’s a folkier version.
But yes: what is he doing with the downloads? I can buy about ten takes of Caravan and every iteration of the Bang Masters but can’t get hold of Hard Nose The Highway.
Martin, here’s the earlier version. Sounds like it would have been right at home on Moondance.
Countering curmudgeon Van’s attitude to back-catalogue availability is what torretns were invented for. I may have made a spelling mistake there.
He’s one of a select few where I have just gone to i-tunes and cherry picked, REM and Jackie Leven being the others. Every LP has grace, and many have dis-grace, but he has been so prolific as to have hours of joy. I can’t tell you your choices, just get £30 credit (to start with) and delve
Ah Jackie Leven. For me a bigger talent than Van in many ways. And an engaging personality. Sadly missed.
Single Father would be a Desert Island disc no question.
Isn’t he just. There are 2 folk who make me weep when I appreciate their loss, musically, Sandy and Jackie. More so than people I know/knew.
Indeed
Much as I love Mr Leven, and I love Mr Leven, to claim he is “better” than Van is just dumb. Van’s been coasting for about 20 years now but is still capable of churning out a masterpiece or two on every album.
Oh, Healing Game is almost as good as Wavelength which is almost as good as Veedon Fleece which is almost as good as Too Late to Stop Now which is almost as good as……
Much as I love Van, and I love Van, to claim he is “better” than Mr Leven is just…ach, you know the rest.
Obviously I must be dumb because I have an opinion contrary to yours? I love Van and Jackie but Jackie edges it for me for a number of reasons. Firstly lyrically he is much more articulate. Secondly his songs are more varied and cover a wider subject matter than ‘the music industry is shit and wasn’t it grand where I used to live?’
Thirdly he had a sense of humour.
The musical arrangements of Van’s songs are what make them, more so than the words or his voice. A great artist, of that there is no doubt. However Jackie was unique and not recognised in the way he should have been.
Jackie Leven was a genius and a fantastic human being. His music moved me like no other and man I`ve listened to many and much beautiful music. Jackie`s body of work compares with any male artist alive and passed.
Here I am talking about ME, we all have our preferences and we are right, everyone else is wrong.
Madame George so low? Nooooooooooooooo! No. No. No. No. No- And no.
“The kids out on the street collecting bottle-tops” is enough alone to merit a higher plancing. Never mind the rest of those beautiful lyrics:
Down on Cyprus Avenue
With a childlike vision leaping into view
Clicking, clacking of the high heeled shoe
Ford & Fitzroy, Madame George
Marching with the soldier boy behind
He’s much older with hat on drinking wine
And that smell of sweet perfume comes drifting through
The cool night air like Shalimar
And outside they’re making all the stops
The kids out in the street collecting bottle-tops
Gone for cigarettes and matches in the shops
Happy taken Madame George
That’s when you fall
Whoa, that’s when you fall
Yeah, that’s when you fall
When you fall into a trance
A sitting on a sofa playing games of chance
With your folded arms and history books you glance
Into the eyes of Madame George
And you think you found the bag
You’re getting weaker and your knees begin to sag
In the corner playing dominoes in drag
The one and only Madame George
And then from outside the frosty window raps
She jumps up and says Lord have mercy I think it’s the cops
And immediately drops everything she gots
Down into the street below
And you know you gotta go
On that train from Dublin up to Sandy Row
Throwing pennies at the bridges down below
And the rain, hail, sleet, and snow
Say goodbye to Madame George
Dry your eye for Madame George
Wonder why for Madame George
And as you leave, the room is filled with music, laughing, music,
dancing, music all around the room
And all the little boys come around, walking away from it all
So cold
And as you’re about to leave
She jumps up and says Hey love, you forgot your gloves
And the gloves to love to love the gloves…
To say goodbye to Madame George
Dry your eye for Madame George
Wonder why for Madame George
Dry your eyes for Madame George
Say goodbye in the wind and the rain on the back street
In the backstreet, in the back street
Say goodbye to Madame George
In the backstreet, in the back street, in the back street
Down home, down home in the back street
Gotta go
Say goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
Dry your eye your eye your eye your eye your eye…
Say goodbye to Madame George
And the loves to love to love the love
Say goodbye
Oooooo
Mmmmmmm
Say goodbye goodbye goodbye goodbye to Madame George
Dry your eye for Madame George
Wonder why for Madame George
The love’s to love the love’s to love the love’s to love…
Say goodbye, goodbye
Get on the train
Get on the train, the train, the train…
This is the train, this is the train…
Whoa, say goodbye, goodbye….
Get on the train, get on the train…
Sorry,should have explained: that’s not at Top 50, it’s a running order.
Oops. i just saw a list and pure instinct took over. Like a wolf on heat.
It’s a good list. Here are some more (apologies if some are already on your list)..
The best post 90s albums for me are The Healing Game and Down the Road. Agree about Hymns to the Silence which is superb. And, like everyone else I am baffled that the availability of Morrison’s material is by some distance the worst of any major artist.
Cypress Avenue
Ballerina
Street Choir
Old Old Woodstock
Listen to the Lion
Cul de sac
Take it where you find it
Cleaning Windows
Vanlose Stairway
Cry for Home
Ivory Tower
Queen of the Slipstream
I’m tired Joey Boy
Enlightenment
Hymns to the Silence
Carrying a Torch
Rough God Goes Riding
The Healing Game
Sometimes we Cry
Down the Road
Fast Train
Just Like Greta
The Lion This Time
If in Money we Trust
I’m tired Joey Boy – great choice.
Huge omission so far is the extraordinary one two punch of Linden Arden Stole The Highlights and Who Was That Masked Man from his best album, Veedon Fleece
Rave On, John Donne has to be higher.
I adore it.
“Rave on, words on printed page…”
I have trouble enough with albums let alone songs
You must have these:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=van+morrison+not+supposed+to+break+down
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrjIGtNmf38
Angeliou and the live version of Caravan from Too Late To Stop Now. I could actually leave the rest and just keep those two and I think I’d have the essence of Van, at least as far as I’m concerned.